


A Bit of Caring

by kijikun



Category: Care Bears
Genre: F/M, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 18:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/298792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kijikun/pseuds/kijikun





	A Bit of Caring

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Katarik](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katarik/gifts).



Dark Heart’s heart was once just that, dark. No room for anything but himself. He loved the darkness, reveled in hate, and clothed himself in evil.

Then he met Christy.

She was just supposed to be a pawn. A means to an end, but he found himself -- _liking_ her. She was brave, stubborn, and kind.

Even to him.

Even knowing exactly what he was. What he was doing. What his plans for the world were.

He still doesn’t understand why she saved him.

Dark Heart’s asked her before why she saved him that day in the lake.

Christy, when they were children, always just shook her head and smiled. As they got older sometimes she’d kiss his cheek.

Once day, when they were in High school, she kissed his lips. They’d been walking along the lake, the same lake Christy saved him from. They’re camp counclers now at that very same camp.

It’s their day off, a day between camp sessions and they took the chance to walk alone together.

The kiss surprised him. It’s not that they haven’t kissed.

They’d kissed before, but it’s the first time she’s used it as an answer.

“It was the right thing to do, Mike,” she tells him. “Haven’t you figured that out yet?

That’s his name now, Michael Heart.

“I guess I’m still learning, “ he tells her before he kisses her back.

Christy slips her hand into his and squeezes. “I love you, Dark Heart,” she whispers.

The words come easier than he ever thought those once hateful words would. “I love you, too.”

He’s not sure how they got to this. To love.

He hated love.

But he thinks he fell in love with her the moment she pulled him from the water. It was that love that sparked in his pitch black heart when he saw her laying lifeless on the floor. When he thought he’d caused her death.

That moment still causes him pain. If it hadn’t been for those once cursed Care Bears, Christy wouldn’t be here to hold his hand. She wouldn’t be there to smile at him.

Or kiss him.

He’s like the kissing part. He really, really likes the kissing part. Thousands of years old and only now is he finding out some of the perks of ‘caring’. And kissing?

A very big plus of caring.

“You don’t have as much to learn as you think,” Christy tells him. “You just have trouble believing there’s good in you.”

“I’ve tried to do good,” he tells her and he has. He’ tried so very hard. “I just have so much evil to atone for. Christy, I don’t think you’ll ever understand just how -- “

“Rotten, despicable, and horrible you were?” Christy finishes. “You wanted to take all the caring from the world. I think I understand what you were pretty well. And sometimes you are a jerk, but no more than most guys.”

“I’m not most guys,” he reminds her. “I might be a ‘real boy’ now but --” He trails off. He still has powers. Powers he can’t always control.

Like the time threw a guy talking to Christy against the lockers without touching him. Christy didn’t talk to him for a week after that. He doesn’t blame her.

Christy shurgs. “So, you’ve got the ability to be a jerk with fangs. You’re working at it, that’s the important part.”

He winces. Sometimes the fangs are literal.

“Don’t make that face. I think your fangs are cute,” Christy laughs, twining her fingers a little tighter with his.

He makes another face. “Those other girls think your dating me because of some Twilight thing.”

Christy rolls her eyes. “Please,” she says. “If you tried any of that shit you’d be dead meat. Powers or no. I’m sure the Care Bears would back me up.”

He laughs because she’s probably right. They don’t have much contact with those bears anymore but they do come and check on them every now and then. Christy says she understands, after all they’re are children out there that need them. Christy says they’ve got each other to care about, so it’s not like they don’t care.

Sometimes he cares about her so much it hurts. It’s not like the pain when she lay still on the floor, but it still hurts how much he loves her.

Like he wasn’t built to love this much. Maybe he wasn’t, but he’s not going to stop.

“You’re thinking too hard again,” she tells him.

“Do you remember the day in the cave?” he asks finally.

Christy nods. “It’s hard to forget almost dying.”

He almost pulls his hand from hers but she holds on stubbornly. “I was thinking about that,” he tells her. “About how much it hurt when I saw what I’d done to you.”

“Dark Heart,” she says softly.

“You were the only good thing in my black existence and I nearly killed you in my arrogance and hate,” he says. “I think I loved you even then. I just didn’t have the words for it.”

Christy is quiet for a moment before she speaks. “Why are you thinking about this now?”

“Because I love you,” he says as if that makes sense. “What if I hurt you like that again? What if I get angry or hate something so much again that I loose sight of what could happen to you?”

She pulls them to a stop and rests a hand on his chest. “You won’t hurt me like that.”

“How do you know?” he demands. “I’m still capable of so much darkness.”

“So are all people,” Christy reasons. “But its our caring for others that keeps us from doing it. You don’t just care about me, you care about others. You care about the children here at camp. You care about Dawn and John. You care about the environment, about animals.”

“Christy -- “

“You care, Dark Heart. Sometimes you care more than any person I know,” Christy goes on. “You might loose your tempter sometimes, but so do I.”

He bows his head towards her. “I wish I had your faith in me.”

Christy presses a gentle kiss to cheek. “That’s why you’ve got me around. To care about you.”

He wraps his arms around her and touches his forehead against hers. “Thank you, Christy.”

And he doesn’t just mean for today. He means for everything. For every little time she’s pulled him up, that she’s cared. All the way back to the day she pulled him from the lake.

Christy just smiles. “You’re welcome.”

His heart isn’t dark anymore.


End file.
